While its a term that is often misused, "Hounds of Love" is an album that shows Kate Bush as a mature artist-- this is not to imply lifeless or without edge, as this usually means, but rather that Bush has fully come into her own as a performer, providing an album performed with confidence, full arrangement, and cleverness. Lyrically, it is her best imagery, at times her most distant and yet her most personal, and her vocal delivery lacks any sort of harshness that could sometimes be present in the past. Back in the days of vinyl, this was a two-sided album in the truest sense, the first side titled "Hounds of Love", the second "The Ninth Wave". The latter is apparently some sort of concept story about a woman drowning, but its quite honestly pretty loose. The first side is filled with mid-tempo pieces-- Bush has reached a state of fully realized pop, with the fantastic "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)", the title track, and "Cloudbusting". Perhaps the highlight of all of these is the fantastic arrangement and superb confident vocals from Bush. Drastically different is "Mother Stands For Comfort", featuring a fantastic vocal and superlative bass playing, but somewhat marred by an obnoxious breaking glass sample. I've always found "The Big Sky" unfortunately to be a bit too pop for me, its a reasonable song, but what it does, other pieces on this one do better.
The second side is puncuated by much sparser arrangements, the result being that Bush's voice really gets a chance to shine on pieces like "Under Ice", where her vocal floats above dark strings and the stunning "Jig of Life". But really the entire side of the album is a long highlight and rather brilliant. Its surely best of Bush's work and a superb place to begin looking at her work. A Masterpiece.
5
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